Former Drinker Biddle Class Action Vice Chair Michael Stortz Joins 5-Partner Move to Akin Gump
The bicoastal group includes Drinker's Philadelphia-based litigation chair and a former managing partner of the firm in addition to Stortz, who is based in San Francisco.
July 16, 2018 at 02:00 PM
2 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The Legal Intelligencer
Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM Five partners from Drinker Biddle & Reath are leaving to take their national class action defense practice to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Seamus Duffy, Michael McTigue, Meredith Slawe and Kathryn Deal will now be based in Texas-based Akin Gump's Philadelphia office, while Michael Stortz will be based in San Francisco. All five have served in leadership roles at Drinker Biddle. Duffy is a former managing partner of the firm and was chair of the class actions team, and McTigue was chair of Drinker Biddle's litigation group. Akin Gump has a small but longstanding presence in Philadelphia, having opened the office in 1996. The office head count was 19 lawyers before the Drinker Biddle partners joined. Philadelphia partner Steven Maslowski heads the firm's intellectual property practice. The combination of IP and class actions practices in Philadelphia will create opportunities for both groups, Baldini said. While Baldini said geography was not a significant factor in building the class action practice, Duffy and Slawe said they were both pleased with the firm's commitment to the Philadelphia market. The firm's San Francisco office, which Stortz is joining, is similarly sized, with 17 lawyers before his arrival. Holland & Knight James Fitzgerald in Los Angeles recently hired made a move to Cozen O'Connor
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